TRACY — A handful of Tracy firefighters returned late last week after spending time battling the Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe which destroyed or damaged more than 325 buildings and homes.

Tracy Fire Capt. Terry Hein, who has been on similar mutual aid missions in the past, left Monday morning on a state-owned engine housed in Tracy.

The morning after his team arrived, they were thrust onto the fire lines to protect a subdivision near the junction of State Route 89 and Tahoe Boulevard, Hein said.

By Wednesday, they were on mop-up duty to prevent smoldering embers from getting caught up in the winds, and spreading the fire even further.

“They didn’t want the embers burning across the line,” Hein said. “Our job was to suppress the embers as much as possible. That was our main job, along with structure protection.”

Hein said the Angora Fire reminded him of the Oakland-Berkeley Hills fire in 1993 where an entire neighborhood of houses would be burned out and one home would be left with barely a few burn marks.

“I didn’t think it was going to be as bad,” Hein said. “We were taking information (on the way to Lake Tahoe) thatthey were losing houses. It didn’t really hit until you saw the devastation, and how fast it ran through there. It was a reality check. People didn’t have a chance to grab any valuables it was so fast. They lost everything. Some elderly couples lost everything late in life and are starting all over again.”

Engineer Dan Peeler said the randomness of the destruction stood out the most to him.

Driving down streets you could see the chimney standing where the house used to be and some homes appeared to be untouched.

“My first thought after looking at the damage was ‘Thank God nobody was killed,'” Peeler said. “On the other hand, looking at it, their worldly possessions are sitting there burned up. To some degree we deal with that in structure fires we fight, but to have a whole neighborhood wiped out, it made a serious impact.”

The state has a master mutual aid plan in place in the event of a disaster and Tracy has been called upon numerous times throughout the years.

“We were called down for the Los Angeles riots, not a forest fire, but a civil disturbance,” Tracy Fire Division Chief David Bramell said. “There was a need for a major response and we provided that willingly. We are proud to be a part of that system and are willing to contribute when called upon.”

He said strike teams can be activated for up to two weeks, but generally are away from home for about seven days.

Bramell, who served on the strike team during his time as a captain with the fire department, recalled sleeping in and on top of the engine.

“You’re talking a week or so away from family in not the best conditions,” Bramell said. “They do understand, if called upon, they can be gone for quite some time, but our folks are usually fighting for the opportunity to go. That’s a testament to the kind of service they want to provide.”

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